College Confidential’s “Dean,” Sally Rubenstone, put together 25 of her best tips. Get your free copy of the "25 Tips from the Dean" eBook and get helpful advice on how to choose a college, get in, and pay for it: http://goo.gl/9zDJTM

When taking calc as a senior was actually considered "smart"

Now, at my school, there are freshmen and sophomores taking calc BC. I still remember when you were considered smart when you took calc as a senior! We now offer calc III, what. Anyone else's school seems to be rising in standards?

Replies to: When taking calc as a senior was actually considered "smart"

Not really. We had a rise and dip. Class of 2012 were so smart. One of my friends took AB sophomore year (which is huge here) and a bunch took it junior year. Class of 13 had one person take it junior year. 2014 has none. Our class 2015 will have 9 (me) people taking AB next year. It has a lot to do with what was available to each class though.

I agree with you on this.
When I started out in high school, being two years ahead in math was considered SMART.
Our school resisted students who tried to get ahead and wouldn't allow anyone to double up on classes if they already were a year or two ahead and wouldn't allow students to be more than two years ahead.
Now they're FINALLY letting up and it's far, far, FAR too late for the rest of us and we have freshmen and sophomores who are three, four, five even SIX years ahead in math than the rest of the school.
And I'm just a puny two years ahead and there's nothing I can do about it.

I know of maybe one or two sophomores taking Calc I and that`s because they`re in a special gifted program. There are some Juniors who take Calc, and then Seniors. And the occasional junior taking AP Calc.

To be perfectly honest, the idea of being "behind" because you're not in Calc I/II/III/AB/BC /IB Math HL/SL at grade X is really pointless. Does it help and look nice? It does. Does it set you back? Hardly. For example at my Uni, there are people who've gone up to Analysis I and II, and people who've taken multivar. We still start at the same place, we'll still end up needing similar requirements.

A public High near here brags how around 3% of their Students take Linear Algebra every year. I think they have around 15% of Seniors taking BC, CC math, and Linear. However, almost 3/4ths of all college bound seniors (other words Top 40%) have to remidal maths in college

About 40 of 580 seniors in my class are in Calc BC/Multivariable Calc this year (start with BC topics like parametrics, polar, and series, and go into topics like partial derivatives and double/triple integrals). So about 6% or 7% of the class is on the most advanced track the school offers.
So about that many people took Calc AB junior year as well... that's two years of calculus going into high school. Still no linear algebra or differential equations though. I kind of wish they made Calc BC a whole year class and Multivariable Calculus a whole year (maybe with some differential equations)... but oh well.

Our school doesn't have much of an advanced selection. For AP we have statistics, Calculas 2, and Math, and I think only one class is held in each. Our class sizes are from around 275 - 450 students. I guess there is a big difference in all the schools. I'm not too bad in math but not great either. Now, I do have a cousin (my dad's cousin actually) who is really good at math. He is a professor and has a part of algebra named after him.

Helpful Links

About College Confidential

Welcome to the leading college-bound community on the Web!

Here you'll find hundreds of pages of articles about choosing a college, getting into the college you want, how to pay for it, and much more. You'll also find the Web's busiest discussion community related to college admissions, and our CampusVibe section!About Us